2011 Barolo Lazzarito

Vietti is one of the pioneering families in Piedmont. When I think of where the contemporary history of Barolo begins, three winemakers come to mind; Beppe Colla at Prunotto, Alfredo and Luciana Vietti and Bruno Giacosa. These are the three producers who first introduced the concept of single-vineyard wines in Piedmont, an interpretation of the land borrowed from France that has no real tradition in Piedmont. Prunotto and Vietti worked with their own vineyards, or sites they controlled, while Giacosa had greater influence because he sourced fruit across many more sites in both Barolo and Barbaresco, and quite honestly, his top wines were often of a higher level. Still, before 1961, single-vineyard Barolo did not exist. The 2011 vintage marks the 50th anniversary of Vietti’s Barolo Rocche and Prunotto’s Barolo Bussia, a watershed moment in Piedmont’s evolution. Vietti’s 2011 Barolos continue a string of recent successes for this reference-point estate. The wines will offer a little more near-term appeal than the 2010s, which is a good thing, as those Barolos are long distance runners. Like a lot of producers, Vietti chose to bottle their 2011s a little bit earlier than normal, which means these wines had been in bottle for longer than they are when I usually taste them. In this tasting, the 2011s came across as a bit closed and less expressive than they have been in the recent past. That is probably a good thing for the future, though, so I am not at all concerned.

Vietti was among the producers I visited who chose to bottle their 2011 Barolos a bit earlier than normal. The late Alfredo Currado and Luciana Vietti were pioneers in a number of regards. One of them was opening the US market to Barolo in an era where producers rarely traveled and well before Piedmontese wines were popular in any way. That same strong work ethic is very much in place today, proving there are no shortcuts. Success in any field so often comes down to doing what othersimply aren't willing to do. The 2011s look to be another stellar set of wines from one of Piedmont's reference points. The 2011s were bottled just a few days before this tasting, so I have elected to show the ratings in brackets.